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Haag resigns from England role

Martin Haag will leave the Rugby Football Union (RFU) after resigning from his position as Head Coach of the England U20 side.

Haag took up the role at the end of last season ahead of the World Rugby U20 Championships in Manchester which saw England win the trophy after beating Ireland 45-21 in the final.

The former Bath and England international joined the RFU from the Championship side Nottingham.

Haag said: “I have really enjoyed my time with the RFU and being involved in winning the World Rugby U20 Championship on home soil in Manchester. The squad and management did a fantastic job in an incredibly short amount of time to win, and I am very proud of that achievement.

“However I have decided to move on. I wish all of the players, coaches and management the best for this season ahead of the Six Nations and World Rugby U20 Championship in Georgia."

Dean Ryan, Head of International Performance at the RFU added: “I would like to thank Martin for his contribution to England Rugby and the programme this year. He should rightly get a lot of credit for pulling together a squad that won the World Rugby U20 Championship in June. Martin can be proud of his role in that."

Haag began his coaching career in 2001 and his initial involvement in the RFU player pathway was in 2007 when he toured Australia as England U18 Assistant Coach.

After a season at Bath’s academy he became a full time RFU national academy coach and was involved in the England side that reached the 2009 Junior World Championship final in Tokyo.

He had a spell as forwards coach at Bath before he took over at Nottingham Rugby in 2012. Haag guided the Championship club to a second-place finish in his first year and then narrowly missed out on the play-offs two seasons later.

As a player Haag made 315 appearances for Bath Rugby and was capped twice for England against Argentina in 1997.